Failure
by BlondeSinger101
Summary: A clean girl goes to live with some very dirty guys. Her uncle may be John Tunstall, but will that matter to the Regulators? CHPTR 4 UP!
1. Uncle John

Chapter 1

My mother looked up from the stove where she was cooking stew for our dinner. Beef stew to be exact. Here, let me introduce myself. My name is Bailey Tunstall. I am sixteen years old tomorrow, and live alone with my mother. My father left us when I was about two, and so now I work to add some money to my mother's already poor salary, being a weaver. She weaves the finest clothing, making me always elegantly dressed, but it didn't bring much money. I work as a newspaper boy. Well, newspaper girl really. I only have one known and living relative, and that is my Uncle John. He lives in a town called Lincoln. A place that is known throughout my far away home of White Oak as a bad place with only scum and whores living in it. I don't really believe these rumors, seeing as we live right across the street from Jane's Whore House. But I have never been to Lincoln. I have met my uncle once. I was five and it was around New Years Eve. I don't remember anything about him, besides the fact that he was tall.

"Dear, can you start to cook up some rice for our dinner? It would be a huge help." My mother stated with a small smile.

"Of course mom, let me get a pot." I smiled at her, and then moved from my place on the dirty couch, to get a pot from the high cupboard. I lifted it off the shelf slowly and carefully. Then I set about making the rice for dinner. I usually got along well with my mom. She was a good lady and I loved her very much, even if she didn't have a great job.

"So is this all we are having for dinner?" I asked it before I realized it wasn't the best thing to say. My mother has always had a bit worried about me not living a "full" life, because of our money issue.

"I'm sorry mom. That was rude of me to say."

"It's not the first time." My mom said in a slightly sad way. I frowned.

…

The next day I got up before my mother. This was usually the case. I got up early, made breakfast, and then started on my schoolwork. I was home schooled, or rather, I am self schooled. My mom doesn't have time to teach me, so I teach myself. And I am pretty good at it too. My mother got up at least an hour after I had started working. She frowned at me, then sighed and sat down next to me. She looked troubled.

"What's wrong mom?" I asked.

"Oh dear, this is so hard for me to tell you. But it is for the best." I immediately got worried, deciding that what she had to tell me probably wasn't good.

"What is it?"

"I talked to your uncle last night."

"Ok…"

"And I was telling him about our money problem. More about how I thought you were unhappy with the situation."

"And…"

"He said that over the past years he has acquired a ranch and shop. He is living now alone with his helpers."

"Oh no. No, no no! You can't send me to work for him!"

"Oh no dear, that's not it! I am sending you to live with him."

The words struck me hard. I got up slowly.

"I am going to live with Uncle John on his ranch? Seriously?"

"Yes"


	2. Hitting it Rich

Chapter 2

I couldn't believe it. My mother was actually planning to send me to live with my uncle who I saw ONCE when I was five. He was practically a stranger! At least I was only going for a year. I am NOT looking forward to this, but it is too late now. I have already boarded the train, and we are leaving now. I looked around for somewhere to sit. The train was small, but packed. All types of people were surrounding me. Dirty people with no lives. Clean people with no souls. They were all crap to me. I found my way over to an empty seat. I wondered why it was empty, with everyone clustered around; someone would have to have seen it. But as I drew nearer to the seat, I realized why. The seat next to it was occupied by an Indian. And this was bad medicine in White Oak, and most places around the Western coast. I was different though, and didn't really care about the rumors. So I took my seat next to the Indian. He looked over at me. He was only a couple of years older then me, but his face was morbid and gloomy. I gave him a small smile, which he returned. I felt a tap on my shoulder. A small plump woman was glaring at me.

"You should sit where you know that you belong young girl!" she huffed.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said, confused.

"You should be! Sitting next to this…this…greaser Mexican!" she said angrily. I looked over at the man. He smiled kindly.

"So sorry madam. You can have this seat, and your girl." He said calmly. I frowned as he got up and the woman sat down. She smiled at me, as the Mexican moved down to another compartment on the train.

"Well, I hope you are grateful. He may have NEVER moved!" she said. I just smiled my million dollar smile. I didn't agree with her one bit, but I had learnt to keep my mouth shut.

It took us about another half hour to get to Lincoln. As I got off of the train, I remembered my mother saying that my uncle would send one of his workers to fetch me from the train. I got off into a dusty town. The air was thick with drama and murder. I sat down on a bench and waited. I didn't know who was coming to get me, but hopefully the person who was coming knew at least what I looked like. I scanned the crowd while I was waiting. While I would be at home alone, when my mother was at work, I developed a habit of passing time. It was called People Watching, and I could do it for hours on end. It was entertaining, to drudge through other people's lives, just momentarily. I was quite fond of my hobby. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to see a handsome young man of about 22 years. He was tall, and sturdily built, with clean looking brown hair, and deep brown eyes. I regained myself quickly enough. I then remembered that it was my birthday today, and I was now sixteen years old. I hoped that meant I could date this guy…

"Howdy. I'm Richard Brewer, you can call me Dick. I am foreman of The Regulators, worker for John Tunstall." He said strongly.

"Hey. I am Bailey Tunstall, you can call me Bailey. I have no idea who The Regulators are, and I am niece to John Tunstall." I smiled, and he chuckled.

"Nice to meet you Bailey."

"And you Dick."

"The Regulators is a catchy name for Mr. Tunstall's workers. We "regulate" the stealing and theft of Mr. Tunstall's property. But Charlie can give you the full speech later. For now we better get going. Can you ride a horse?"

"No…"

"Jesus"

"Um"

"Ok, well you can ride with me I guess."

So I followed him around the train station until we came to a pretty bay horse. He jumped on in a swift motion, and held his hand down for me. I took it, and felt his strength as he easily pulled me up on to his horse, behind him. Dick reared the horse and began to gallop slowly up towards town. We rode for about ten minutes before finally reaching my uncle's property. It was a nice house, with a bunk out in back, where I supposed the workers slept. Dick jumped off the horse, and helped me down.

"Well Bailey, this is it." He said.

"Wow, it's truly nice. Seriously, this place hit it rich!" They were the wrong words. Dick frowned at me.

"Follow me, I'll take you in to your uncle." He said and began to walk up towards the house on top of the hill. I smacked myself for being such a stupid person, and then followed him up.


	3. Billy and The Regulators

Chapter 3

Dick led me inside of the ranch. It was a nice house, clean and well kept. Sitting in an armchair in the living room was my uncle.

"Hello sir. Here she is, all in one piece." My uncle smiled. Dick moved away, but my uncle held up his hand.

"No need to leave Richard. Unless you would like to go round up the other boys. I would like for them to meet my niece." Dick smiled, nodded curtly, and then left. I looked at my uncle nervously. He smiled in a fatherly way.

"Please Bethany, sit." He gestured to a chair.

"Um it's Bailey." I said softly as I took a seat on the couch.

"Oh! I am SO sorry Bailey dear! Time is a fickle friend." He said with a chuckle. I smiled slightly. "How has life been my darling?" he asked.

"Um fine sir, I mean, uncle."

"That's good and what about your mother?"

"Fine" he smiled. There was a slight pause. I looked around the living room awkwardly. Fortunately, the silence didn't last. We heard footsteps and Dick came back into the living room with the other workers. The one in front who was standing with Dick had wavy blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. He was smart looking, and dressed in clean, nice, clothing. The guy standing directly behind Dick was chewing fiercely on something in his left cheek. He had dirty brown hair and dull brown eyes. Nothing that I would call too attractive. Then, behind the smart looking man, was the native that I had sat with on the bus! I must not have noticed him get off at the same stop as I did. He was smiling while looking at me. The boy behind him looked around me age, maybe a bit older. He had dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes that were sparkling with mischief as he flicked small rolled up bits of paper at Dick's head. Dick spun his head around and slapped the boy on the back of his head. Then he turned back around towards me.

"Bailey, these are the regulators. Not all though, Charlie is in town getting food. These are the rest though." They smiled at me. All except for the young one who looked sad at not being able to annoy the foreman anymore. Dick introduced them. The smart one was Doc, chew-man was Steve, native was Chavez, and the young one was Billy. I smiled at Billy, but he just looked at me as if I were some disgusting thing he found on the bottom of his shoe. I blushed and turned back towards Dick.

"You can always call on one of us if you need anything. We know where everything is, and where everything should go." Dick said.

"Thank You." I said, smiling.

"Yes, thank you Master Richard. You and the boys can go get cleaned up for dinner now." Then my uncle turned towards me. "And you can also Bailey. There is soap in the showers upstairs. Feel free to grab a towel from my room. Doc can show you where." I smiled at him, and turned towards the regulators. The clean looking man named Doc, nodded, and waved for me to follow as he left the room.

I followed behind him as he made his way up the creaky stairway.

"You don't worry about Billy." Doc said. I looked up, confused. Then I remembered the look Billy had given me when I had smiled at him.

"Yeah?" I said stupidly.

"Yes, he will come around. He just isn't used to having other people on the ranch. You make him nervous." I really didn't know where he was going with this. So I stayed silent. He showed me my uncle's room, then my room.

"See you at dinner." He said.

"Yeah, see you!" I said brightly. I grabbed a towel from my uncle's room and went to the bathroom to take a shower and get cleaned up for dinner.


	4. A Shower Visitor

The water in the shower was warm, not hot, but warmer than I was used to at home. My mother and I didn't exactly have buckets on cash, and hot water was one of the first things to go. I basked in the warm water, all the while examining the shower curtain, reading the shampoo bottles, soaping myself down, and thinking about my uncle. I hoped that there was other…girls…my age that I can hang with. Not that I'm not absolutely thrilled with the fact that I get to live with a whole bunch of guys!

I heard a clink from the door to the bathroom, and I tensed up as the door swung open slowly. I quietly clicked off the water, and watched the shadow of the person make a bee line towards the shower. "I'm…in…here...sir." I stuttered quietly. I heard an insane laugh that made me jump five feet into the air, then shrieked for a millisecond as the curtain was pushed aside, and another shadow came through the door, closing and locking it behind him/her. Though I was most certain that it had to be a boy, I hadn't seen one girl here. Billy was the one who threw the curtain open. I grabbed the other end and wrapped it around my body as quickly and accurately as possible, making sure I distributed the curtain wisely.

"Howdy" Billy said, chuckling. He leaned over and grabbed the shower curtain from my hands, showing my body to him. He whistled and laughed his insane laugh. I burst into tears, scared of what he would do.

"Okay that's enough Billy." Said the other man in the room, shielded by the remaining curtain.

"I will scream!" I sobbed at Billy. He just laughed and leaned in to "have a closer look". I screamed as loud as I possibly could. Not soon enough after, I heard many footsteps coming from all around the house up to my uncle's bathroom. Many guys crashed through the door. A well built one, which I reckoned was Dick, grabbed the mystery guy by the collar and dragged him out of the bathroom. The built man then came back and pulled back the rest of the shower curtain, revealed himself, in fact, to be Dick, looked down disgusted at what Billy was obviously doing to me, and dragged Billy out of the room. Standing in front of my naked body was my uncle, Doc, the Indian Chavez, the chewer Steve, and two regulators I hadn't met yet. Great, the first day here everyone gets to see lots of Bailey.


End file.
